poor squaddie, “Died a horrible death,” so I walk this
guard to a quiet spot using possession, then plant a
spring razor on his back.
Feeling a little more reassured, I cross the gorge that
separates Upper Aventa from the Clockwork Mansion,
and enter Jindosh’s whirring labyrinth. I stick to, as Corvo
puts it “the space between the walls” as much as possible,
trying to avoid the bladed hulk of the prowling Clockwork
Soldiers. Inevitably though, I have to creep out to deal
with a particularly unpleasant guard. “They won’t let him
back into the bathhouse,” the heart says. “Not after what
he did to a boy there.” Barf.
I sneak out to shank the guard, but I’ve failed to notice
a sleeping Clockwork nestled in the wall, which promptly
stirs. I have enough time to do the deed, but then the
Clockwork is on me. I blink away, spin around, and shoot
the Clockwork’s head off with my pistol, which stops it
from being able to hunt me.
It’s the slickest move I’ve made all day, but
unfortunately it sends the Clockwork haywire, while the
gunshot attracts the attention of several other guards.
I watch in horror at the storm of blades and blood that
unfolds. I can’t get close without being attacked from halfa dozen angles, so I try to take out the Clockwork with
bolts and bullets. It’s like shooting peas at a tank, and it’s
only when the Clockwork has minced all three guards
that I finally manage to destroy it.
How many of them deserved to die? How many didn’t?
I’ll never know. What a mess. The only good thing about
this calamity is it’s given me an idea of a way to deal with
Jindosh. I find my way to his laboratory, where the
inventor is protected by two Clockworks.
There’s no way for guards to get in here, so I
deliberately attract the attention of one, and swiftly
decapitate it. I then draw the second one away while the
headless Clockwork makes short work of its master.
Job done, I quickly locate Sokolov, and grab him from
his prison. As I’m leaving, a cluster of guards appear from
the elevator and spot me.
I’m not trying to fight them with a pensioner on my
shoulder, so I dash back to Jindosh’s lab, and use the
walkway across the gorge to escape the mansion.SUFFERING WITCHES
I leave Aventa with 13 people dead, almost half of them
accidental. This is a disaster, about as far away from
clockwork as you can get. As night falls, and I depart for
my next target, my overriding feeling is “must try harder”.
Tonight I have an appointment with the curator of the
Royal Conservatory, Breanna Ashworth. We’re going to
have a sharp discussion about preserving items of
questionable value, namely her life. I’m also going to keep
my eyes peeled for more general rotten apples, but I need
to be strict now more than ever.
Problem is, this is very difficult when the whole damn
orchard seems to be festering. Once again, my first targets
sets the tone. “He pushed her hard against the machinery.
She lost the child,” the heart says. Grim, grim, grim. I
possess the guilty dockworker and walk him up the street
a little, then snuff him out with a bolt. Further up the
street, a female guard killed a woman wearing “a blue
dress with butter roses”, while her male squadmate killed
two people and made it look like “a lover’s quarrel”. A
well placed spring razor deals with them both.HOW THE HEART WORKS
Dishonored’s Heart is a fascinating world-building tool. Here’s how it works:1
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
NPCs are divided into different
classes, guards, civilians, witches etc.2
RELEVANCE
When the player points the heart
at a character, it plays a random
phrase from the appropriate class.3
UNIQUENESS
It then checks off that NPC, so it
won’t play two phrases for a character.4
GENERALITIES
If the heart is pressed without
pointing it at an NPC, it instead
provides a more general phrase
about the world.PERSONAL ADVENTURES IN GAMES
DIARY
A small example of the
witches’ handiwork.